and wrote a self-published book detailing the story titled The Pizza Guy Delivers in 2022.
Top 7 Storylines for the Fireflies in 2025 By John Kocsis Jr.
4.) How Will the Youth Movement Develop for the Fireflies? The Fireflies last wave of prospects, who have spent the last three years in the Carolina League have moved on. Daniel Vazquez and Austin Charles are up in Quad Cities and Lizandro Rodriguez and Erick Pena have moved on. With that, a new wave of the youth movement is headed to the soda city. This year’s Opening Day roster includes four 19-year-olds. Ramon Ramirez and Asbel Gonzalez are among the Royals’ top 30 prospects on MLB Pipeline. Roni Cabrera and Jorge Hernandez have built up high expectations and are being challenged with an aggressive assignment early. Ramon Ramirez is the top prospect of the group. Ramirez signed in January of 2023 prior to an All-Star campaign in the Dominican Summer League. He didn’t slow down at all last year in his first state-side assignment. The catcher has a career .298 average to pair with a .929 OPS and is ready to test out more advanced pitching in 2025. Asbel Gonzalez is another 2023 DSL All-Star and last year got a taste of some more advanced pitching as he played his final four games in Northwest Arkansas. The centerfielder is an elite defender who will try to take the torch from Erick Torres, who led- off, played center and set the franchise record for runs scored for Columbia in 2024. Jorge Hernandez broke out in 2024. He added some power to an already .300-career batting average as he slapped a trio of homers in 41 games. He’ll try to take that next step as he continues to grow into his frame. A bit more about Roni Cabrera in the next storyline. 3.) A First Look at the Other Half of the Aroldis Chapman Return The Royals signed Aroldis Chapman to a prove-it deal in 2023 and flipped him at the trade deadline to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers used him to propel the team to a World Series run to close out the year. The Royals received two players in return for Chapman: starter Cole Ragans, who last year was a Cy Young candidate as he held a 3.14 ERA through 186 innings for the Royals . The other half of that deal was 17-year-old Roni Cabrera. Cabrera hit .292 in the Dominican Summer League the year he was traded from Texas to Kansas City, who are frequent partners in the Spring Training Complexes located next to each other in Arizona. Then in 2024, Cabrera hit more homers (four) than any previous season he’s played despite playing in fewer games (28). The young outfielder has played just 103 career games, but Baseball America identified him as a “potential lottery ticket that will add depth to the Royals system.” Flipping an aging reliever for a Cy Young candidate and a future Major Leaguer would look great on the resume for Kansas City. The world will get their first look at him this summer. 2.) Derlin Figueroa Chasing Career Records Utility man Derlin Figueroa is another prospect the Royals acquired at a trade deadline— but this time for lefty Ryan Yarbrough. Figueroa had an up-and-down first season in Columbia, but when he was at his best, he was one of the top hitters in the Fireflies lineup. The Santo Domingo native held the Fireflies franchise’s second-longest hitting streak in 2024. Over the 13-game stretch, he went 20-49 (.408) with three homers and nine RBI. He also smacked 13 homers and tallied 157 total bases, showcasing a lot of pop. Figueroa enters the season tied for seventh in Fireflies franchise history with 13 homers. He trails Erick Pena who hit 29 across three seasons and is just two behind Brett Squires, who is in fifth all-time. If Figueroa has a similar season to 2024, he will also challenge Dash Winningham’s franchise total base record, which sits at 337. 1.) A New Saves King in the Soda City The back-half of the bullpen was highlighted earlier in the article, but it’s important to note that last year’s closer Elvis Novas starts the season just five saves back of Alex Palsha for the franchise saves record. Palsha had all 14 of his saves across the 2016 season, but Novas had nine saves in 10 opportunities after being placed on the roster in the second half of June last year. He’s just one save behind Trey Cobb to break into the franchise’s top-five save leaders and could climb the ladder quickly as Cooper McKeehan, Adonis Uceta and Allan Winans all had 11 saves in the neon and navy.
The Fireflies Opening Day roster is official and now it’s time to take a deep dive into the makeup of the team. Here’s an inside look at the biggest storylines and questions entering the 2025 campaign. 7.) How will Hyungchan Um and Brennon McNair look after dominating the Australian Baseball League this Winter? This Winter, the biggest story in the ABL involved a pair of Royals prospects who were Fireflies teammates the previous
summer. Brennon McNair was coming off a season where he hit .193 with a career-best eight home runs in 87 games for the Fireflies. Hyungchan Um made his full-season debut in Columbia, homering four times over 50 games to pair with a .205 average. McNair became just the fifth player in ABL history with 10 homers and 10 stolen bases in a season and paced the circuit in homers (11) and extra-base hits (18) while finishing top-five in slugging (.540), RBI (26) and stolen bases (11). Um wasn’t far behind. The backstop finished second with 10 homers and was top-five in RBI (24), slugging percentage (.561), hits (40) and extra-base hits (17). 6.) The Back Half of the Bullpen is Back. Can it Dominate Opponents Like it Did in 2024? Last year, when Fireflies starting pitchers handed the ball off to the bullpen with a lead, Columbia typically walked away with a win. The club finished 42-7 when leading after six innings. And that makes the news that Elvis Novas, Julio Rosario and Ismael Michel are returning even sweeter. Novas ended the campaign as Columbia’s closer, earning nine saves in 10 opportunities while holding opponents to a .202 opposing average and a 0.96 WHIP in 19 appearances. His shining moment came August 24, when he inherited a bases-loaded no out jam at Segra Park against the Fredericksburg Nationals. He retired the side without allowing a run to score, preserving a 4-0 win for the Fireflies. Michel didn’t allow a run over nine-consecutive appearances spanning 15.1 innings from July 21-August 22 for Columbia last season. He finished the season with a 1.42 ERA while holding opponents to a .167 opposing average over 31.2 innings. Rosario joined the club late in 2024, but went 2-0 with a 2.40 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 15 innings of work. He also registered a 4:1 K:BB ratio. 5.) Continuing the Legacy of Major League Fathers Like Manager David Noworyta, whose father, Steven Noworyta, is the Director of Minor League Operations for the Philidelphia Phillies, a few players have a Major League legacy of their own to live up to. Josh Hansell’s dad, Greg, pitched in the Majors from 1995- 1999 and had a 4-4 record with a 5.56 ERA through 106 games with the Dodgers, Twins, Brewers and Pirates. Greg Hansell was drafted in 1989 by the Boston Red Sox. Stone Russell also has a father who played in the Majors in the early 90s. John Russell played for the Phillies, Braves and Rangers from 1984-1993. He also managed the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2008-2010. The team had a 186-299 record under him. He is currently in his third season managing the Tacoma Rainiers. Seattle’s Triple-A club has a 159-141 record during his tenure. Last, but not least, Milo Rushford’s dad, Jim Rushford, fought his way through Independent and Minor League Baseball to get a cup of coffee with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002. Jim worked a lot of side jobs to make ends meet during the journey and
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